Review: Oaklore Story Series 2026 – Old Fashioned and Port Cask Finished Bourbon
A bourbon’s story doesn’t necessarily end when it leaves its original barrel. Increasingly, distillers are turning to secondary maturation to add another chapter, one that can reshape the whiskey beneath it. That idea sits at the heart of Oaklore’s Story Series. Built around the belief that every barrel has a story worth telling, Oaklore Distilling…
Review: TX Whiskey Experimental Series Straight Rye Whiskey Full Proof
Out of Fort Worth comes another experimental release from TX Whiskey, the 16th total in their series, and the second so far this year. We previously reviewed Experimental Series #15, which was a rye/bourbon blend with the latter portion finished in Vino de Naranja barrels. The latest release is a Texas straight rye whiskey, aged…
Review: Heaven Hill Deatsville Bourbon 13 Years Old
Heaven Hill‘s Deatsville campus is on the verge of being decommissioned, so if you want the chance to taste whiskey from these rickhouses — and only from these rickhouses — you better act fast. This 13 year old offering is drawn from “one of the most distinctive aging sites in the distillery’s 90-year history.” It’s…
Review: Wines of Truth and Valor, 2023 Vintage
Truth and Valor is a Paso Robles-based producer of particularly patriotic wines, all reds. We last encountered the operation with its 2021 vintage and now we’re back with three offerings from 2023. Let’s salute the winemakers and dig in. 2023 Truth and Valor Pinot Noir Paso Robles – Surprisingly bright and fruity, with a bold…
Review: Plymouth Honey Gin
This is one I sure didn’t see coming. Plymouth‘s new gin expression is infused with, well, you already figured it out — honey. Originally a limited release in the UK in 2023, it’s dropping in the U.S. for summer 2026, complete with a Bee’s Knees cocktail kit from Cocktail Courier that includes lemon and honey…
Book Review: The Tequila Bible
There is a particular kind of book that doesn’t just crowd shelves at home or in the food section of your local bookshop. It coats the tongue and makes you wonder if you are the kind of person deserving to be gently lowered into a vat of mash and left there until you agree that…
Review: Rums of Spinnaker, 2026 Releases
As far as I can tell, Spinnaker is the only rum company based in Austin, Texas (it’s also the smallest), where Drinkhacker HQ currently resides. It’s not a distiller, mind you, but an independent bottler, very much in the vein of Holmes Cay and LM&V. Spinnaker has a clear focus, taking single barrels of premium…
Review: Sagrantino Wines of Messina Hof, 2026 Releases
Sagrantino is a grape that genuinely humbles. Not in a pretentious, wine-clown kind of way, but more like the way a long hike in midday July heat humbles: you think you’re prepared, and then somewhere around mile three, there’s an epiphany that in no way do you have business being out there. That’s Sagrantino: dense,…